L2 THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM: MAKING VOTES COUNT

Understanding the document:

- What is the journalist’s opinion of the Electoral College?

The journalist thinks that the Electoral College system has many flaws and that it should be abolished.  “There should be a bipartisan movement for direct election of the president.”

- What arguments does he put forward to justify his position?

·      The Winner-takes-All system does not take account of the minority vote in each state.

·      A candidate may become President without having won the popular vote.

·      The system creates another form of distortion in favour of small states as they are allocated at least three electors and as such are over-represented.

·      The campaign does not focus equally on the needs of Americans in every state: the outcome of the election depends on a handful of swing states. As a consequence, the needs of many Americans are ignored whereas candidates focus excessively on the needs of voters in a few states only (“focus their attention, money and promises on a small slice of the electorate”)

ê This situation does not encourage people to develop an interest in the campaign or to go to the polls (“removes the incentive for a large part of the population to follow the campaign, or even to vote”)

·      Because electors do not have to vote for the candidates they are pledged to, the defection of a “faithless elector” may have severe consequences. It could cause other electors to defect and if the vote is close in the Electoral College, this could upset the outcome of the election.

·      If both candidates obtain the same amount of electoral votes, the House of Representatives is in charge of selecting the president. According to the procedure, each state has one vote, no matter the size of its population.

- Explain why the state of Florida is so important for candidates.

Cf. Florida is a swing state and as such focuses the attention of both candidates for the presidency.

3. Explain the following expressions:

- In paragraph 1: “a surefire blue state”: a state that is certain to vote for the Democrats

- In paragraph 4: “a swing state”: a large state with a significant number of electors, which alternates between support for Democrats and Republicans and where the outcome of the election is difficult to predict (ex: Florida).

- In paragraph 4: “The interests of people from Puerto Rico scarcely come up at all”: the candidates pay little attention to the interests of the Puerto Rican community because a significant part of this community lives in the State of New York where a majority of voters traditionally vote in favour of the Democratic candidate. Therefore candidates are not inclined to spend time and money courting the votes of Puerto Ricans. The Democratic candidate therefore does not need these votes.
For a Republican candidate on the other hand had better focus his campaign on swing states where the votes of a voting minority can help him carry those states.